Morning headlines: Wednesday 8th May 2019

An announcement on a new government coalition was expected on Tuesday night but nothing came… so will there be an announcement on Wednesday? That’s the expectation at least, as the Social Democrats put the final pieces in places following days of talks with other political parties who are potential government partners. An announcement is expected to be made to parliamentary groups before noon.

Many Finns wary of online payments

A new survey out this morning finds that Finns are still wary of making too many online payments. Four out of ten people wouldn’t pay for their shopping online over security fears. That’s the results of the study carried out by software company Qvik. Two out of three people use their mobile phone to browse stores online, but then the top three popular ways to pay for items they see is online banking, bank or credit card, or traditional invoices. Some 20% of people in the survey said they didn’t know enough about how mobile payments work. The most popular form of mobile payments in Finland are Danske Bank’s app Mobile Pay, according to the survey.

Finns Party feeling “bullied” over seating switch

ICYMI: The Finns Party is mad as hell about having their seats in parliament’s debating chamber moved. MPs voted on Tuesday 128-37 to establish a new model for seating arrangements which puts the Swedish People’s Party closer to the middle, and moves the Finns Party to the far right – the same way the Nordic Council and European Parliament seats are structured. Finns Party politicians say they’ve been “bullied” and “humiliated” by the move. Read more in our story here.

Police kill wolf in urban area

Police in eastern Finland killed a wolf late on Tuesday evening after it had spent the day wandering in urban areas. The animal was first spotted in Kuopio on Tuesday morning and then was sighted in different neighbourhoods of the city during the course of the day, as police advised people to keep away from it, and keep dogs under control. Around 23:00 the last sighting was made and police had to shoot the animal as it wouldn’t leave the areas of human habitation.

Wednesday morning weather

It’s a very mixed start to the weather picture for Wednesday morning, with snow and sleet forecast across much of Lapland where the temperature hovers just above, or just below, zero. Further south into Central Finland the temperatures warm up to +5C and there’s some sunshine but also plenty of cloud cover around as well. The cloud extends down through Pirkanmaa and Tampere, into Turku and south west Finland where the morning temperature gets up to +6C. There’s sunshine in the capital city region but the best of the sun this morning is in Lappeenranta and the south east where temperatures start the day at +7C.